Sorry for the noob question here, but I don't have many snowboarding friends to ask this question to. My question is, is if its possible to get a rough idea of what kind of snow conditions to expect based on the weather. I know what to expect if its snowing and has been snowing but I'm looking more for ideas based on days when it hasn't snowed and based on cloud cover/sun/temperature. The only reason I'm asking is because I had a really bad day last year (was my first year boarding) where it had snowed the day before and then the day I went out it was sunny and below freezing but the runs were super icy and I hurt myself pretty bad.

I'm just wondering if there are certain conditions that keep soft snow around, and what kinds of weather could make things icy. As an example, I'm planning on going up to Mt Baker for my first trip of the season on Saturday. It's snowing now and should snow off and on the rest of the week until clearing up on Saturday, but always staying in the teens to lower 20's. Sorry if none of this makes sense, it's just been bugging me for a while and obviously the ski resorts aren't going to tell you that the snow conditions are crappy so that's why I'm asking.

It comes with experience. I check the Seymour website obsessively as well as weather sites like snowfix.com and snow-forecast.com . I'm able to get a feel for current conditions from what the Seymour site says or doesn't say. For instance, if they're still showing the conditions from yesterday afternoon this morning, it means they don't want to update the site with current conditions, so it's crap.

It comes with experience. I check the Seymour website obsessively as well as weather sites like snowfix.com and snow-forecast.com . I'm able to get a feel for current conditions from what the Seymour site says or doesn't say. For instance, if they're still showing the conditions from yesterday afternoon this morning, it means they don't want to update the site with current conditions, so it's crap.

So much truth, if conditions are good you will hear about it. If conditions are "ok" they will make some hint to get you stoked to go. If conditions suck, there will be no forecast or updating